USA, 1993
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Canyonlands
In 1991 and 1992 I traveled extensively through the United States. During my trip in 1991 I came across a camera dealer who offered me an old 12x20" Korona banquet camera. Some time later I decided to buy that camera together with my friend and fellow-photographer Geoges Charlier. We refurbished the camera and made it operative again. Both of us got inspired by a small photograph of Art Sinsabaugh carrying his mammothcamera on his back. Later, we found out it was a 12x20" banquet camera - the same type of camera we had just refurbished. Both of us has a sincere wish to do a project with a negative that size and dimensions.
In 1992 I happened to run into an exhibition by the American photographer Michael A. Smith, who was having his 25-years retrospective show in the Kodak Eastman House in Rochester in 1992. Once I found out that the prints shown in this exhibition were 8x10", 8x20" and 18x22" contactprints I immediately decided to contact this remarkable photographer. Due to my visit to him I learned which lenses, films, papers and developers one needs to achieve this type of imagequality. Once back in Europe, Georges Charlier and me were able to do a project in Antwerp, Belgium - at that time cultural city of Europe - using the old 12x20" Korona banquet camera.
In 1993 Michael Smith and his wife, the photographer Paula Chamlee, invited me to join them on their trip through Canyonlands in the state of Utah, U.S.A., which I did. Since then we have become good friends, share labs, houses, knowledge and several trips through Europe.